A Time that Once Was
by youcantsaveeveryone
Summary: from 8x12 As Time Goes By. Instead of being killed by Abaddon, Henry returns to raise his son. Things would have turn out very differently for the Winchesters and their legacy.
1. Chapter 1

But this time, Henry returns.

Henry wakes up, slips through the motel room. Dean is sprawled across his bed, face smashed into his pillow. Sam is lying straight, hands on his stomach with fingers interlocking, the same way John sleeps. With a small smile, he sneaks out to find a way back to his son.

But this time, Sam and Dean don't wake in time.

This time, Henry returns.

* * *

And Henry raises John as a good father should raise his son. All the men of letters have been killed, and the bunker abandoned. Henry decides to leave it that way, but he tucks the small box with the ancient key under the rug, within the home he would live in for the rest of his life, right here in Lawrence, Kansas.

And John grows up never knowing anything about demons, wendigos, vengeful spirits… He grows up never meeting a single hunter.

Of course, until Mary. Just like he always would, just as it always had to be, John found Mary in this universe. Samuel Campbell never loved John, but he seemed decent enough. After all, he had a reasonable education, and a nice enough father whom Samuel would be satisfied to call an "in-law".

Mary loved her father-in-law, and one day he would notice that bracelet that Mary wore on her wrist. It was an heirloom, passed down from her mother Deanna, and it had all sorts of symbols. Devil traps, pentagons, sigils, and one star-like symbol which she never recognized. Henry, of course, recognized the symbol from his childhood – the men of letters symbol.

Henry knew what Mary was, but he never spoke of it. She was his dear daughter-in-law, so innocent and so gorgeous, and she would smile with so much pure joy whenever she looked at John, that Henry knew how strong her resolve was to leave the life. He knew she would never look back.

* * *

But the future is being rewritten. Everything in Sam and Dean's life was collapsing all at once. Yellow eyes, Lilith, the apocalypse, hell, the Leviathans, purgatory, all the memories crumbled, ready to be established once more.

As Mary whispers, "Angels are watching over you" to the young boy in her arms, the boy named after her mother, she recalls an encounter. Something that happened in a time that once was, but no longer is - another world, another life, another Mary Winchester.

In a universe where a yellow-eyed demon murdered her parents, in a universe where her second son was turned into a monster, a universe where she dies, she remembers Anna, Michael… But she breathes a sigh of relief. There is no yellow-eyed demon coming. Henry took care of that.

* * *

And somewhere in heaven, there is truly an angel watching over them. He's confused. He once grabbed a man, gripped him tight and raised him from perdition. Yet that never happened. It happened in a lost timeline, one that never was.

But it feels so real to him. His love for the Winchesters feels so real to him. That boy running around in that blue shirt that reads "I Wuv Hugs" is so real to him. He remembers that man gripping him tight as well, in an embrace. He remembers that man telling him "I need you".

So all he can do is believe him. Dean needs him. He'll watch over Dean all of his days. He'll watch over the Winchesters all of his days, because of the love that once was yet never should have been.


	2. Chapter 2

They had a home, a real home, yet little Dean would tug at John's plaid shirt, desperate to spend a night in their impala. Mary would much rather John had bought that minivan she'd had her eyes on for weeks, but something inexplicable led him to purchase that 1967 Chevy Impala. A ghost from the past.

"KAZ 2Y5"

John could never explain why Dean loved strong smell of leather in the back seat, or why Dean felt so much affection for every inch of the sleek car, or why, in his sleep, Dean would mumble "K… Ka…Kaz…", as if reading the vehicle's license plate.

Or perhaps he remembered…

But how could he?

* * *

And as the days passed, Henry remembered that future he once visited. With every passing day the memory began to blur. But it wasn't a memory, it wasn't a fact, it had been washed away, was being washed away, as a new timeline established itself.

Henry recalled John's journal. His son's messy scrawl covering the yellowed pages, every stroke fuelled by passionate vengeance. He recalled the hatred in Dean's eyes, anger that followed him everywhere. And he recalled the weariness in Sam's countenance, the fact that he was so exhausted from everything he had to face…

And now he looks upon his family. He sees love in John's eyes, mirrored in Mary's. He sees the pure unadulterated joy in Dean's face as he embraces his mother. He sees hope in Sam's every movement, his excitement.

And he thinks, is this not better?

* * *

The day arrives for Sam to leave for Stanford.

It's a day of pride. Mary and John, standing at the door as Sam walks off, are waving. Their faces are beaming. Even Dean, who had called his little brother a "nerd" just an hour before, gave him one tight embrace.

But it's in the shadows, in the echoes.

"If you walk out that door, don't you ever come back"

Sam shudders. But it's the wind. Nothing unsettling about that. Nobody's upset. He smiles. He turns around to wave goodbye.

But it's in the shadows.


	3. Chapter 3

A timeline is imploding.

"Dammit Dean, you were supposed to be watching Henry!"

"We had shifts, Sammy! I need my four hours!"

They stopped. What had they been arguing about? The argument unwound around them, as the rest of the universe, in a future that ceased to be.

"But Henry doesn't go back! We know it!"

* * *

Henry smiles in his sleep, the letter his grandson sent from Stanford clutched tightly to his chest.

* * *

"Dean... what's gonna happen now?"

Almost instinctively, they know they're running out of time. Every second is another crack in the fragile walls of the universe they reside in. Sam rushes to his laptop, in near desperation, praying that there's an answer somewhere.

Dean grabs his jacket, gives Sam a shout, then races out to the Impala. Maybe Henry hadn't gotten far.

Just across the street, Dean sees Jo.

* * *

Jo Harvelle never met Dean Winchester. Which, really, was a great pity. She would never feel that rush of blood into her cheeks when she saw the freckles on Dean's face, admit that it's just a stupid crush, but permit herself to blush anyway. She would never tease Dean and proudly hold her own against him. She would never harbor the suspicion that Dean liked her too, but deny him the chance, making the pleasure all hers.

She would never be the hero, dying so that Dean could live.

So she would have ended up on this street, on this day, running errands for Ellen. Dean would drive past her, and they would both go about their business.

But Dean sees her in the wrong reality.

Something is happening to his timeline, and it's overlapping with the new reality. Dean runs up to Jo, but she's never seen him in her life.

He reaches out to touch her, but he can't. He almost believes it's a hallucination. But she looks so real, so fragile, so... confused. Wrong universe, wrong reality, wrong life. Some things never were.

* * *

But some things were meant to be. Like the angel in the sky, who looks upon Dean. An obedient soldier, confused because of a profound bond that only he seems to be aware of. Flashes of the past seep into his head.

They're not of the past.

They never happened.

What's wrong with you, Castiel?

You've never even talked him.

He seems to remember: his name is Cas, he wore a trenchcoat, he left a mark on the righteous man. His will isn't enough to bring back an entire world - not by itself anyway.

* * *

Sam, Dean and Cas had all come to the same conclusion, albeit in different places.

Something's wrong with reality and someone needs to fix it.


End file.
